I will not promise anything with regards to the F-16 but everything considered I regard it as fairly likely to happen at some point.

Making the textures itself will not be much of a problem nor will making adjustments. You can get very far with HSB adjustments, transparency and turning on and off layers. The challenge really will be the accuracy of it.
I think a good approach will simply be to look at pictures (while naturally considering the lightning in the picture). The pattern itself might not be perfect from this method but it should make it possible to make something that look fairly close to what the aircraft really does. Model kit sites can actually also be a great help here as they sometimes have an index of what paint types fit a given aircraft as well as providing a sample where I can get a hex-code from.

I might have to experiment a bit with a combination of dirt, weathering together with even weak patterns just to help break up surfaces of completely uniform colour. Those tend to stand out.

Alternatively there is always the option making something like thishttps://i0.wp.com/fightersweep.com/wp-c ... 1200&ssl=1
The problem though is that these patterns can take several hours to make and honestly there is a limit to how many anniversary paint schemes I want to do.

I will try and see if I can create something from all the pictures linked to in this thread.

For now here is my initial take of the F-15I Ra'am. I have mainly taken inspiration from the 69th "hammers" squadron. no.241 is part of this squadron from what I can tell and the camouflage pattern is hopefully not too far off.

I still need to do some weathering on this aircraft but other than that it is probably not that far from being completed.
For the record that eagles head on the tail by far took the most time which is why I am a bit hesitant to committing to an entire plane with that level of details.

Also I am very likely to disappear for a bit on the 17th. as I will be spending some days playing NieR: Automata. Yes I know I will like it and spend some time with it as I already have done so on PS4. I might actually install bootcamp on this computer just to have it on a mobile platform.

Just a few minutes before typing this I noticed that I have an add for Mass Effect: Andromeda in my inbox and came to think "why is it that I find this game so interesting while I could hardly care less about Bioware's game"?

So far I have come to the conclusion that it is probably down to that I find the gameplay itself fairly lacklustre, the plot being somewhat formulaic (it is well written though) and most main characters have plot armour so strong that would make the designers of the Cheyenne and Yamantau facilities envious.

One thing though. Since the Raam (unlike the Baz) is actually based on the F-15E Strike Eagle I take it you`ve passed on the CFT as a distinguishing sign and will just create that through different textures?

Model kit sites can actually also be a great help here as they sometimes have an index of what paint types fit a given aircraft as well as providing a sample where I can get a hex-code from.

I actually already have scoured cybermodeler so I have already seen most of their illustrations but yes it is a good source. Another one I find to be quite good is 1999.co.jp. The F-15I is made from illustrations found there. I think the colouring was taken from cybermodeler but that I do not remember. I usually make a reference block in the accurate colour on the background and just grab it from there. The F-15 texture background has around 12 such blocks so far.

So far the F-15I is just a recolouring of the regular F-15. The actual fuselage details and model remain unchanged.
Not really sure what I want to do with it. I could remove the sides of the air intakes and place them in such a way that they resemble conformal tanks (basically move the top part further out) while giving them a different design that would resemble such tanks. Anything beyond that is probably not going to work as I simply do not have the space on the texture map (also this method is pretty much guaranteed to work without requiring any real reworking of the UV map). That is probably the best compromise between work required and visual accuracy.

32-8826 (the red and white one) is most likely as it is an interesting colouration without being too extreme. Also it is not much harder to do than a regular aircraft texture.

Also I will probably adjust the to-do list for the next update a bit. I am considering pushing a few models back and getting an update out sooner rather than later.
Maybe I should also put it in the first post in this thread and regularly update it.

I don`t think you should do such acrobatics for a CFT. A different unit ID for the model and - where possible - different textures will be just fine. For example if you make the generic F-15C in that Mod Eagle scheme and the F-15E in the uniform darker grey you won`t confuse them on the map. Both can serve as the US textures too, with the appropriate insignia.

Also I will probably adjust the to-do list for the next update a bit. I am considering pushing a few models back and getting an update out sooner rather than later.

Personally I`m all for it. I`d rather have whatever is ready sooner rather than later since you never know what can happen (files get lost, delays may keep mounting etc.).

Took a break from the F-15's
Yes I am still getting something done on this despite Yoko Taro. No this is most definitely not finished textures.

Also finally had some time to look at Mass Effect Andromeda. Wow I am not sure under what criteria Bioware hires animators but it certainly is not based on their professional skills. Their riggers might also be horrible but that is harder to determine and definitely cannot be the entire reason. Their animators and/or animation lead is just terrible simple as that (probably both).
Some of their animations I would "not" consider passable for a first year animation student project.
Probably not good when a "serious adult game" has such animations that I cannot stop laughing when I see them. It sort of breaks all possible immersion which given Biowares typically mediocre gameplay is probably all they have left.

Think I will most definitely not pick up that game which I guess is good for this project. You still need to stop me from using my replacement PS3 I have finally gotten around to buying though. ^_^

More work done on the K2. Not much else to show though.
The tris count is not that high and there is still a bit of space left on the UV map so I will probably be adding a few more details like lights.
Naturally the texture still needs a good bit of details.

The K2 texturing more or less done. I might still end up giving it some dirt sprays like on the M1A2 but that is pretty much it.
I might also tweak the camouflage pattern a bit.
For the record the general lack of beige on the top of the chassis and turret is intentional as pretty much all pictures I could find where like that.
It is only going to be in a K and base texture.
Final Tris count is 1123.
edit: the rear of the turret is missing a few details. Those will be there on the final version (assuming I remember to turn their control group visibility on).

Worth is relative really. If you where paying someone by the hour to put that amount of details into a model this small you probably would not find it to be that way ^_^

I have generally not bothered much with making transparency for AFV textures In part as it does not bother me much and Maya dislikes transparency a bit when it comes to textures so I normally turn it off on materials. I also tend to put a black background on it as I find it easier to look at than the FFFFFF white it replaces transparency with by default in the viewport.
Making it transparent is quite easy though as it is just a few layers that needs to be turned off.

The grey "cobweb" is an effect of the filtering applied. Without filtering it disappears but it also appears much more pixelated. I can probably change this somewhere it the few billion settings this program has but so far I have not taken the time to do so.